Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The marsupials of Australia, the finches on the Galápagos, and many species on the Hawaiian Islands are all unique to their one point of origin, yet they display distant relationships to ancestral species on mainlands.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

The Berlin-based ethnographer Alexa Clay, who studied change agents in her book, “The Misfit Economy,” talks about mainlands, islands and peninsulas.

From New York Times • Feb. 29, 2016

The marsupials of Australia, the finches on the Galápagos, and many species on the Hawaiian Islands are all found nowhere else but on their island, yet display distant relationships to ancestral species on mainlands.

From Textbooks • Apr. 25, 2013

The British had decided to get the pro-Axis revolt there in hand while the invasion of Crete gave them a breather on Middle Eastern mainlands.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the usual experience of archaeologists, inventions are supposed to flow from mainlands to islands, and small peripheral societies aren’t supposed to contribute revolutionary advances to the rest of the world.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond